Finance

UK's Close Bros Wins Permission to Appeal Motor Finance Ruling

Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck, constantly worried about your financial future? Do you dream of a secure and comfortable life, free from the stress of debt and financial consBritish lender Close Brothers (CBRO.L) was granted permission on Wednesday to appeal a ruling that requires motor finance brokers to fully disclose commissions on car loans, in light of an impending multibillion-pound consumer compensation scheme. The UK's Supreme Court announced it had allowed Close Bros and South African lender FirstRand (FSRJ.J) to appeal the landmark October ruling made by the Court of Appeal.

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TECH

How Tech Billionaires Are Shaping Washington’s Future

Washington is preparing to face a group of outsiders—tech billionaires, investors, and Silicon Valley figures like Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen—whose ideas are now at the forefront of the Trump transition.

Often, outsiders are an unknown factor, leaving Washington to figure out what they seek from politics, how they plan to engage, and what originally motivated them to get involved.

CRYPTO

How Sustainable is the Trump Crypto Boom?

Last week, after Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.), Bitcoin’s price soared past $100,000, sparking celebrations among crypto enthusiasts. The atmosphere in the crypto markets felt reminiscent of the dot-com boom, followed by its inevitable bust, which I documented in a book over twenty years ago. There was the same excitement, the same predictions that prices could rise even higher, and the same sense of unease among some seasoned market participants, myself included.

Undoubtedly, there were plenty of reasons for crypto investors, entrepreneurs, and pro-crypto donors to be excited. These donors contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to pro-crypto politicians ahead of the November elections. Their investment in Trump’s success and the defeat of key crypto skeptics, like Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, has already yielded returns. The S.E.C., as the nation’s leading investor-protection agency, had been taking a tough stance on the industry under Gary Gensler, whom President Joe Biden appointed as chair in 2021. Gensler had described the crypto sector as being rife with fraud and scams, and under his leadership, the S.E.C. filed lawsuits against several major crypto firms, including the exchange Coinbase and the digital-payment network Ripple.